


Bystander

by Kaatiba



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Hurt Eren Yeager, Introspection, Mild Hurt/Comfort, POV Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Protective Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), s03e11: Bystander
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:16:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25881946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaatiba/pseuds/Kaatiba
Summary: s03e11 from Levi's POV
Relationships: Levi & Eren Yeager, Levi & Eren Yeager & Hange Zoë, Levi/Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman & Eren Yeager
Comments: 6
Kudos: 162





	Bystander

Hanji jumped in the air screaming victoriously as they all watched the hiss of steam as the 12-meter titan’s body began to evaporate from the nape downward. 

Levi himself gave a small nod of satisfaction before he felt Eren fall down to his knees at his side looking shocked, exhausted, but relieved.

“It worked,” Eren breathed out as Hanji continued jumping at the edge, yelling, “Hell yeah!”

Normally, Levi would be secretly amused by Hanji’s enthusiasm, but right now he felt a surge of protective concern override that. He turned to Eren and knelt down to get a better look at him.

Hanji has been putting Eren through the ringer with constant drills and hardening experiments for weeks after the coup, and it was obviously taking its toll on the kid.

Not that the idiotic martyr would ever _say_ anything about it.

“...we’ll hack down those bastards all day and night!” Hanji continued as Eren lifted his fingers to his chin. Levi frowned as he saw Eren’s nose bleed and without pause held out his own handkerchief to sop up the blood now pooling in the boy’s hand.

The boy’s sea green eyes were wide as he checked the cloth to see it almost completely saturated within seconds.

Levi was about to scold him about keeping up consistent pressure when Hanji turned around. “Say hello to the executioner from _hell_! We did it, Eren!”

“Eren?” he felt her excitement deflate a bit, shifting to worry.

“Looks like he must’ve overused his titan abilities,” Levi explained watching the idiot in concern. 

Levi trusted Hanji with his life, but he knew that sometimes in her scientific fervor, she could begin to overlook things like...her patient’s _health_.

Levi wasn't _worried about Eren_ per se, but it _was_ unwise to overtax and burden their greatest weapon and asset.

“I’m sorry, Eren,” Hanji breathed out. Levi could feel the weight of her stare behind her goggles, more somber than usual as she took in Eren’s hunched over form. Levi followed her gaze as well.

_Maybe_ he could admit to himself, he _had_ come to care for the kid as more than just a weapon or soldier. He was _Eren_ , and Levi wasn’t supposed to let anything happen to him...for the good of Humanity as well as his own selfish reasons.

He was sick of watching his comrades, his subordinates, and…. _friends_ fall. 

But of course, Eren dismissed Hanji’s apology out of hand, and his gaze hardened with the familiar if exhausting ferocity Levi had come to expect from the young Scout, “No,” he growled, “There’s nothing to apologize for. We can’t slow down just ‘cause we’re tired, right?” he dabbed at the thin trail of blood dripping down his top lip. 

“I’m fine,” he said, though Levi didn’t believe it for a second. He looked worn thin even as he blabbered on per usual, “Let’s just make these weapons quickly, and then go to Shiganshina.”

Hanji’s mouth thinned in determination, mirroring Eren and Levi tried to suppress his worries over his two recklessly passionate friends. 

He’d just have to do a better job watching over Eren and making sure he was taking care of himself between experiments. 

Though if he’d somehow still managed to burn the candle at both ends in spite of Mikasa’s mothering, Levi didn’t know if there was much more he could do.

For now, he settled with offering him a hand as they stood, looking down at the titan corpse beneath the wall. 

If nothing else, Levi was relieved to see the familiar spark in Eren’s eyes that had been muted ever since his last capture.

* * *

Levi let his head tilt as he heard Mikasa’s familiar cry of “Eren!” and he watched as the veterans of the 104th cadet corps sat together at a dinner table not far from the officer’s. 

All heads at the table were turned to Mikasa or Eren whose eyes were wide like he’d just come out of a trance. The boy seemed prone to brooding trances and distraction lately, and Levi knew he was still trying to put together the flashes of his father’s memories he’d uncovered while with the Reiss’s. 

Mikasa looked unmoved though as she scolded, “You still have bread and soup left! You shouldn’t be talking until you’ve finished your meal.”

“Got it,” Eren mumbled, still looking pale, “You’re right, sorry.” Levi caught a glimpse of the boy halfheartedly taking a sip of soup as Jean drawled, “Get it together, Eren...Enough with the sad mumbling already. It’s all you do these days.”

Levi couldn’t help but agree, but he felt the familiar protective instinct kick in as Jean continued, “You know what you should be focusing on?” as if the idiot needed more pressure to put on himself, “-that guy you saw from those memories...You said there was a Scout who must’ve known your dad, right?”

Levi was distracted as Hanji said something to him, and the next part of the cadets’ conversation was drowned out by the laughter of leaving recruits and the clink of dishes.

But he and everyone else was distracted again as Eren stood up dramatically, hands slammed against the table as the Scouts near him gasped. 

“That’s who I saw with my Dad! It’s Commandant Sadies!”

Levi sighed, setting down the last bit of crust from his bread, nudging Hanji. “Time for a field trip,” he grumbled

* * *

Levi leaned back in his chair, calmly sipping his tea as Hanji asked the Commandant, “Why do you think we came here to speak to you instead of continuing our preparation to retake Wall Maria?”

Across the other end of the table, Eren was glaring not-so-subtle daggers at his old commander like he could extract information with nothing more than willpower. 

The commandant’s amber eyes stared back before he stiffened, speaking in his gruff voice, “Eren, you look like your mother in almost every way.”

Sadies knowing Eren’s mother was new information to Levi and apparently Eren himself if his and Mikasa’s soft gasps were anything to go by. 

“However,” the man continued, “the daggers I see within your eyes, those are completely your father’s…”

Of course, Eren stood up and cried, “Tell me about him! Tell me everything you know!”

Levi took another sip of the black tea, ignoring the familiar theatrics to examine the lined face of Erwin’s predecessor. The man had a haunted look about him. _As he should_ , thought Levi recalling the staggering losses the Scouts had suffered under him. 

And that was _before_ Shiganshina fell. 

He settled back as Eren finally sat down and they all listened to Sadies tell his story of a life full of misguided arrogance and regret.

As he talked about life as a bystander. 

* * *

Levi mulled over all the new information Sadies had given them; Grisha Jaeger’s presence outside the walls and alleged amnesia, the way he carved a life for himself in Shiganshina, becoming a well-respected doctor, helping cure the citizens of plague, healing and falling in love with Eren’s mother, Carla. 

Levi thought of his own mother, how she had surely never loved his father. How he was simply a bastard, product of desperation and turmoil rather than love. 

He listened as Sadies recounted the marriage of Eren’s parents, the bitter jealousy plainly obvious in his voice. How everything devolved for him from there, the destruction of the Scout base, the defeated return to the city, seeing Eren as a child, his bitter words to Carla Jaeger that reminded Levi of every insult he’d ever heard hurled at his mother for doing what she needed to keep them both alive for as long as she did. 

Levi watched Eren’s blue-green eyes waver in horror and pained remembering as Sadies recounted Grisha finding his son among the refugees, learning of Carla’s death. How Grisha told his young son to avenge his mother’s death, had sparked the unwavering desire for vengeance that still burned in Eren, still pushed him to drive him past his breaking point. 

Levi felt disdain and anger towards the doctor who’d put that on his young son’s shoulders, had made him a killer just like Kenny had made Levi one...Though in this case, it was not about survival but about creating the perfect weapon. 

He imagined Eren as a child, turned against his will into a bloodthirsty titan, forced to cannibalize his own father, then left in the woods all alone, freshly orphaned, unable to control himself, his fate. 

He felt a sudden rush of shame for every time he himself had thought of Eren as a _weapon_ or a tool, not just another orphan of war. Another soldier, person. 

He looked at the boy’s familiar profile, his dark hair, strong brow, big bright eyes and delicate features. The glint in his eyes and the passion he wore like a second skin. 

As Captain, he promised himself he’d never let the titan-shifter get hurt. 

As Levi, he promised to protect Eren if it was the last thing he ever did. 

Because his titan abilities might be Humanity’s greatest hope, but it was the determined, human glow in Eren’s green eyes everyday that gave Levi himself hope.


End file.
